Author: Dilip

I'm a scholar, writer and teacher; and my blog is designed for intellectual exploration. It carries no advertisements and requires no cash subscription

Book review: Conceptualizing an Emancipatory Alternative: Peter Hudis reviews István Mészáros’s ‘Beyond Capital’

First posted June 29, 2016 It is no exaggeration to say that with 1989 a long historical phase – the one initiated by the October Revolution of 1917 – came to its end. From now on, whatever might be the future of socialism, it will have to be established on radically new foundations, beyond the… Read More Book review: Conceptualizing an Emancipatory Alternative: Peter Hudis reviews István Mészáros’s ‘Beyond Capital’

Dilip

World on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points, study finds

The climate crisis has driven the world to the brink of multiple “disastrous” tipping points, according to a major study. It shows five dangerous tipping points may already have been passed due to the 1.1C of global heating caused by humanity to date. These include the collapse of Greenland’s ice cap, eventually producing a huge sea level rise,… Read More World on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points, study finds

Dilip

100 years ago, in early August 1922, the barricades of Parma repelled Mussolini’s hordes…

Yorgos Mitralias At least during the interwar period, when there was a confrontation between the left and the fascists, it was always the fascists who won. And unfortunately, most of the time without meeting a real resistance. However, there has been one important exception. That of the Italian revolutionary Guido Picelli, who, the first and… Read More 100 years ago, in early August 1922, the barricades of Parma repelled Mussolini’s hordes…

Dilip

Vasili Arkhipov (1926-1998), the man who prevented nuclear war

First posted on October 27, 2012 The decision not to start world war three was not taken in the Kremlin or the White House, but in the sweltering control room of a submarine. The launch of the B-59’s nuclear torpedo required the consent of all three senior officers aboard. Arkhipov was alone in refusing permission.. … Read More Vasili Arkhipov (1926-1998), the man who prevented nuclear war

Dilip

Book review: Coffee With Hitler by Charles Spicer – polite society v the Nazis

Alexander Larman When Hitler rose to power in the early 1930s, public reaction in Britain was not that of unalloyed horror. Instead, it lay somewhere between disinterest, snobbish, if inaccurate, contempt (“the man’s a house painter!”), and, in some circles, quiet satisfaction that a vigorous reformer had shaken up his country in an apparently effective and… Read More Book review: Coffee With Hitler by Charles Spicer – polite society v the Nazis

Dilip

‘There is nothing for us’: Pakistan’s flood homeless start to despair

Hundreds of thousands of homes are under water in Sindh province. Locals have no food and say the state has abandoned them by Shah Meer Baloch in Dadu After several attempts, Zameer Ali, his son and his brother were finally heaved on to the deck of a wooden boat. Early that morning, the exhausted 48-year-old had waded… Read More ‘There is nothing for us’: Pakistan’s flood homeless start to despair

Dilip